The Strawberry-Rhubarb Experiment

[Laurie Ann March]

Back in the spring my father-in-law handed me two or three grocery bags full of rhubarb. Not knowing what I would do with so much I resorted to what my Mom would have done—I chopped it into small pieces, added some cardamom and sugar (to taste), and stewed the lot. I put the mixture in the freezer until about a month ago when I needed to fill some trays on the food dehydrator while drying fruit/applesauces for baby-girl's first wilderness trip.

The mixture dried just like fruit leather, albeit a little sticky. When it was dry I placed the leather on plastic wrap and rolled it up. It made a most delicious fruit leather – yummers. A few weeks later (between trips) I had some strawberries that were going to go bad if I didn't use them. So, in typical Laurie-fashion, they got dehydrated.

Fast forward to a rainy layover day at camp last week. Biscuits were on the breakfast menu. I had added a touch of sugar to the mix and was intending on putting raisins in them with a bit of cinnamon. Then I remembered that I had some of the rhubarb leather in my pack as part of our snack rations. When I pulled it out the little baggie of dried strawberries fell out too. I put both in my rehydration container, added boiling water, and waited about 10 minutes. Then I poured the mixture on our biscuits. It was really good (if I do say so myself) and it's something I will definitely do again.

[spelt with a t]

I'd make that for breakfast at home. Sounds delish.

[Adam Wallace]

that sounds so good…my fathers favorite pie was strawberry rhubarb

[Laurie Ann March]

I normally don't like the way the strawberries are when they are cooked with rhubarb but I found drying the raw strawberries made them a little more sturdy in the mixture. I also took some of the dried rhubarb to my last workshop and the participants seemed to enjoy eating it as fruit leather. My next experiment isn't going to be UL though—a rhubarb coffee cake or kuchen in the Outback Oven. I have a lot of this stewed rhubarb to use lol.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

A few years back I wrote this one up making rhubarb leather:
http://www.trailcooking.com/content/fruit
I grow rhubarb in my back yard (this cold summer has led to 2 crops even!). It is easy to grow I might add and comes back on its own yearly. Anyhow, making rhubarb leather is very, very easy. It is an acquired taste without sugar (although I grew up eating it, we always had plants).

[Laurie Ann March]

I should have been more clear… I've been making rhubarb leather for years (see my article from 2003 where I mention it briefly), it was rehydrating it with the dried strawberries that was the new and experimental part, as well as serving it over the biscuits. I wanted to see if it would come back nicely enough. Some things, as you know, don't rehydrate well or you have unwanted flavor change.

It was a rainy and miserable morning (because I was wilderness camping – lol – tent=rain) and the warm compote of rhubarb and strawberries was very satisfying to all. I did take a photo of the tender sweet biscuits we had it on but the guys dug into them so quickly once I put the topping on that I didn't get a second shot.

My dear friend Shelley took breakfast to a more elaborate level however and made a delicious looking Cheese and Brocolli Tart (they were a group of four). I'm sure it was pretty heavy as was the Plus 10 model of Outback Oven she used. I have to say it certainly was mouthwatering and the aroma was great.

Here is a photo of her creation (which was modified from a recipe at Knorr.ca – I can get her to post her version if any of you want to go the non-lightweight route).

[Tim Zen]

Now stuck dehydrating 1.2 kg of rhubarb from Eastern Market.

[Laurie Ann March]

I actually wish I had some more to dry but the season is long over up here. Now it's the wild blueberries, corn, and peaches (not together – lol). Today I am off to the Winona Peach Festival. One of the things I love about this part of Ontario is that we are so close to some of the best fruit farms in the country. I love peaches.

[Tim Zen]

1.2 kg of rhubarb resulted in .2 kg of rhubarb leather — which is excellent, so thank you.

Used only two trays on the Nesco, so I filled the other three with cantaloupe slices.
First time for cantaloupe. It takes a long time to run, but the results are excellent.

We get a lot of produce from Ontario at Eastern Market.

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